Alaia Skyhawk: Nope, I'm still not out of ideas...

I don't own Tales of Symphonia so please don't sue me. I do however own Krishka, Dallinius (Dalli), Aluran, the Alurannai and any OCs, except Sanaro and Annule, who belong to Mr.Who2123, and Mika and Fiuras, who belong to WingedWithFieryMana, so please don't steal them...

Enjoy

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Chapter 36: Another Point of View

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Paws padded through the carpet of last year's leaves, a carpet that was studded with the lush green of this year's ferns and forest flowers. Tiny animals scuttled away as the large creature walked among them, coming out of hiding only after it had passed.

The paws stopped, as their owner spotted their prey. Stealthily they crept through a large thicket of ferns, sneaking up behind the unsuspecting target until they struck.

Noishe! Get off me right now!

The green and white Arshis stepped off his fellow protozoan with a smirk on his face.

Ha ha, got you Yorun!

The other Arshis glared at him, green markings a darker shade than those of the prankster. He was about to return the favour when he was interrupted by the Fenrilra that landed between them.

Pale red markings made the newcomer look far more delicate than she was. Both Arshis knew though that this particular protozoan had beaten up a pack of forest dragons that had strayed too close to an Alurannai settlement in Tethe'alla. She looked from one to the other disapprovingly.

Behave, you two. For a pair of protozoans who are going to be helping to watch over your families' children, you're hardly setting a good example.

Both of them slicked their large ears back, Noishe grumbling as he did so.

Take it easy, Janai, I was only having a little fun. Y'know... playing. Last I checked it wasn't illegal.

The Fenrilra buffeted him with a red wing, sending him tip over tail with a yelp.

Watch your manners, Noishe, you may be Bonded to the Nartana but even Tsahi says you need to tone down your pranks for a few years. That kind of stuff isn't what you can do around a young alurannai. They have to learn not to get too rough while they're young or when they get their full strength at adolescence they could find themselves unintentionally doing great damage to something... or have you forgotten what happened with Kratos after you taught him to use trees as springboards to change direction fast?

Noishe scuffed a paw across the ground.

...It wasn't that bad...

Janai rolled her eyes, shaking her head at his denseness.

Noishe... The first time he tried it after he reached adolescence he nearly knocked over a tree that was four foot in diameter! It was left on a permanent slant. He hit it that hard there were foot prints imbedded in the bark!

Noishe's ears couldn't have gotten any flatter, they were so far pulled back that they were nearly indistinguishable from his neck.

Shaking her head again, Janai turned and walked off, folding her wings neatly along her back.

C'mon before the others think they need to send a search party.

Both of the Arshis glanced at each other before following her to where two Aeros were waiting. When they arrived, Mezo and Prili turned to face them.

It's about time. I was starting to wonder if you got lost.

Janai eyed Mezo as she settled herself on the ground in a patch of sunlight.

Not lost, Noishe just got a little side tracked...

The Arshis once again found himself on the receiving end of a disapproving glare, though this time it came from Prili.

She fluffed the purple feathers of her wings and huffed in annoyance.

You really need to grow up a bit Noishe. You'd think after being an Arshis for nearly five thousand years you'd be less flighty by now.

Once again Noishe was grumbling.

You're one to talk. You've only been out of the Aquan Lake for four and a half millennia. I'd been out over seventeen thousand years by that point. You never heard the term 'respect your elders'?

Prili snorted as the other three protozoans hid smirks.

Then why don't you act like it?

The laughter broke out, while Noishe began to grumble to himself about smart mouthed oversized chickens.

This gathering of five Protozoans was their equivalent of what the parents-to-be were doing in the Crèche Group Room. The five of them would spend this time talking over things they would need to do once the children were born. They had to do this, because as soon as the children were old enough to be left alone for short periods, the Protozoans would be the baby sitters. Their job as the youngsters' guardians meant that they had to decide as a group how to deal with certain behaviour, since teaching one child differently from the rest would make it difficult for them to take turns watching the crèche group as a whole. Thankfully, just as Alurannai learnt certain things from their parents regarding the raising of children, so did Protozoans pass on certain rules of their own to each of their kind that emerged from the Aquan Lake. Also thankfully, most of those rules revolved around the ring that was always painted on the floor of a Crèche Room, which kept things simple.

They all got themselves comfortable and as soon as they were all were settled the Fenrilra looked around at each of them.

Now I'm sure we all know these already, but I'm going to say them anyway since out of all those here I've watched over the most children. Rule number one: Never let the children leave the Ring. Rule number two: All toys stay inside the Ring. There's no point in leaving temptation in front of them. Rule number three: The tugging of ears, tails, feathers, etc, is fine while they're still very young, but as soon as they start to walk don't let them do it anymore, or you'll spend most of your waking hours with a toddler using you as a booster to get up. Rule number four: If two children start to fight over a toy, take it off them and give it back only once they agree to share. Rule number five: If one child hits another take them out of the Ring, put them in the corner, and keep them there for five minutes. Repeat it if they still act up. Rule number six: If they have a tantrum, do the same as rule five. Rule number seven: If they aren't polite when asking for something, ignore them until they say please. When giving them what they asked for, don't let go of it until they say thank you. Rule number eight: For the Fenrilras and Arshis, rides on backs are to be given only as rewards for very good behaviour. Don't give them unless they're earned. Last of all, rule number nine: It is up to the Protozoan to enforce the rules for the child from their Bonded Family. The only time this doesn't apply is during times when one or two Protozoans are watching the group while the others take a break... Any questions?

All of her fellow Protozoans shook their heads. The Rules were well known and all of them had now confirmed that they all knew the same ones. After all there was always a chance of a Protozoan having being miss-taught a Rule or two.

Grumbling once again as he set his head on his paws, Noishe eyed Janai.

I know we'd have had to do this at some point, but why are we doing it so early? The first of the Crèche Group isn't even due to be born for another three and a half months.

The Fenrilra sighed.

We're doing it now because in this Group things are different. Anna is human, for all that her child will be as Alurannai as the rest. I'm reminding everyone now because someone has to teach her what to expect from us... Namely you, Noishe.

He was suddenly the focus of four pairs of brown eyes, and he didn't like it one bit. Finally taking the hint, he resigned himself to his fate.

Alright... I'll tone things down for the next twenty years or so... and I'll go talk to Anna.

He got up and slunk away through the trees as the others began to chat among themselves about the happenings around Nae Shiu.

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As quietly as he possible could, Noishe lifted the latch of the apartment door and slipped inside, just as carefully closing it behind him again. It was still fairly early, and Anna might just be still in her and Kratos' room dealing with today's reports. Something she had now banished Kratos from helping her with, since his attempts to 'help' usually ended up with the task taking longer than it should have. With paws figuratively crossed, he padded down the hall and stuck his nose through the open door.

She was still there, and much to his relief Kratos wasn't. He strolled over to her and put his head on the desk next to her arm.

Anna...

She put down the piece of paper she was holding and looked down at him.

"What is it, Noishe?"

He sighed, the rush of breath making a few sheets on the desk flutter.

I've just been informed by my fellow Protozoans that you need to be taught what to expect from us once the baby is born. He didn't inform her that he had also been told in no uncertain terms to behave himself for two decades. Sighing again, he began to explain it to her. All Alurannai families have at least one Protozoan Bonded to them. When a Protozoan joins a family in that way it becomes their job to help look after the children of the family while they're young. Out of me and Tsahi, I'm the one that has that job because I'm the younger of the two of us. Once the child is old enough, if you need a break to take a rest or just for some quiet time, take them to the Group Room and I'll keep an eye on them there along with any of the others that might be looking after one of the other children... Basically the Group Room is a communal nursery and the Protozoans are the baby sitters, which gets interesting since infant and juvenile alurannai can't hear mind speech. Especially when enforcing the Protozoan's 'please and thank you' rule.

Anna's expression was curious.

"'Please and thank you rule'?" The look in Noishe's eyes clearly said 'don't ask'. She ruffled his ears instead. "Thanks for telling me. It's nice to know there'll always be someone to help out if I need it." She got up and headed for the door. "I was about to get something to eat. Want some?"

In response Noishe trotted after her, tail waving merrily as he followed her out of the room.

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Yilara looked fit to scream, that much was clear to Yorun as he watched her. He'd barely been back in the house for half an hour and he'd already witnessed Ridei ask her more than a dozen times if she needed anything, and the fact that she didn't reply told him that she'd used up all of today's 'tasks'. Furtively he crept around the house trying to do anything that might help her. Discreetly he managed to lift nine cups from the cupboard in the kitchen area and proceeded to place them randomly on the countertop near the wash basin as though she might have forgotten to put them away after cleaning them. He then opened the balcony door and shook some of the branches over hanging the railing so that they dropped bits onto the deck where he could brush them into the house with a paw and into corners where they would have to be swept up along with the strands of fur he managed to shake out of his coat to sprinkle the floor here and there around the house in various places. Darting into the laundry room, he pulled several socks from the basket of dirty clothes and made sure Yilara saw him with them as he slunk into her and Ridei's room to hide them under their bed, even putting one behind the chest of drawers for good measure.

The look on her face as he came back out was one of relief as she proceeded to ask her husband to put away the cups she'd just 'remembered' she'd left on the countertop. Next she asked him to check their room for any laundry since she couldn't bend down to check under the furniture any more. Twenty minutes of extremely thorough searching later he returned the socks to the laundry room only to be promptly asked to sweep the floor. All in all, with her prompting him to make sure he got everything in the corners and on the floor all around the house, Yorun's efforts kept Ridei busy for almost two hours.

Unfortunately, as soon as those tasks were done Ridei resumed his vigil over his wife's possible needs. Finally, in desperation, she gave Yorun a pleading look.

He sighed.

Here we go again...

With no warning whatsoever, he grabbed Ridei by the seat of his trousers and dragged him out of the house and down a nearby stairway. The man's curses as he hit each step on the way down were the inevitable result. Once at the bottom, Yorun grabbed one of Ridei's shoes and pulled it off, bouncing to a spot several yards away where he looked back at the fuming husband with an expression that said, 'you ignore me, then I take your shoe'.

Ridei spread his wings and launched himself at the Arshis who bounded off zig-zagging through the trees as the man pursued him.

Yorun laughed inwardly as Ridei came after him, he had to admit, this was fun.

Let the chase begin...

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Alaia Skyhawk: And there you have it, the Protozoan's take on the whole Crèche Group thing. Poor Ridei... XD